Notebook

“Hidden pockets” of poverty for older Americans

As we find out today that the unemployment rate is the highest it’s been in 26 years, AP also released a story about the fact that the poverty rate among older Americans could be nearly twice as high as the traditional 10 percent level. This is according to the National Academy of Science’s new formula for calculating medical costs and geographic variations in the cost of living. AARP weighed in:

“‘It’s a hidden problem,’ said Robin Talbert, president of the AARP Foundation, which provides job training and support to low-income seniors and is backing legislation that would adopt the NAS formula. ‘There are still many millions of older people on the edge, who don’t have what they need to get by.'”